Reflections From Christian Meditators

Chapter 0.3: Prologue

Seeking workers in a multitude of people, God calls out and says again: “Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?” (Ps.34:13). If you hear this and the answer is “I do,” God then directs these words to you: if you desire true and eternal life, “keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; turn away from evil and do good; let peace be your quest and aim” (Ps.34:14-15). Once you have done this, my “eyes will be upon you and my ears will listen for your prayers; and even before you ask me, I will say to you: “Here I am” (Isa.58:9). What is more delightful than this voice of the Holy One calling to us? See how God’s love shows us the way of life. Clothed then with faith and the performance of good works, let us set out on this way, with the gospel as our guide, that we may deserve to see the Holy One “who has called us to the eternal presence” (1 Thess.2:12).

The Rule is a call to compassion, to honesty, to goodness, to peace, to love. In these our humanity sings. In these the Divine Life manifests through us. In these the gentle action of God changes us into that which we already are: images of Divine Love. Our wounds are healed into transfiguration – the compassion of Christ takes us over and naturally turns attention outwards. Self-honesty becomes a welcome priority. At our best we cannot help but act from the good that lives within. Peace and love are the gifts we grow in as we are healed into the forgetting of self-consciousness.

As we negotiate this pilgrimage alone and together we discover ourselves growing in harmony with the God-life. We discover the loving attentiveness of God, an attentiveness that was always there. A living of the Rule harmonises us into a hearing of the silent voice of God; a voice that is mercy, kindness, love; a voice that can guide us into the freedom and love of our hearts for life.

The Rule has space in it for the practice of meditation because both the Rule and meditation are about the same thing: self-forgetting into love. Not a quietist love, a feel good and do nothing. Love here and now is only love if it is loving. Love is faith and good works. Action can flow from the communion we all share with God. Self-forget and become aware of this communion even as you act.

The divine life is always for the good, always simply there ready to draw the attentive, the hearer into the eternal life within us and all. This life is our delight, it is our fulfilment. In it is our freedom of being, a freedom from over-thinking, a freedom from anxiety.

The Rule (and meditation) teaches that spirituality is a practical discipline, one that we do not complete. It is always being practiced. We never arrive at the fullness of it in this life; we are never perfect in living it. Practice. The practice is life. Divine love and kindness are discovered in the practice and are infused in the practice.

To practice is to grow in the holding of attention in the Divine Life as we act. Then action can become an expression of the divine nature we all share with Christ. As we attentively hold and act, over time our humanity is divinised. The Rule is a practical guide to the divinisation of humanity in community. This graceful and gradual becoming can only happen if we do it together. We come to share the divine nature.

Through these, the greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption rife in the world through disordered passion. With this in view, do your upmost to support your faith with goodness, goodness with understanding, understanding with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with devotion, devotion with kindness to the brothers [and sisters], and kindness to the brothers [and sisters] with love. (2Peter1:4-7).

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Published by Meditatio London House

Meditatio House in Central London is home to a small resident community that lives in the spirit of the Rule of St Benedict. It is the residence in London of Fr Laurence Freeman OSB. Meditation three times a day balances the spiritual dimension with the work of the community and the hospitality we offer. Benedict sees all human life as a harmony of body, mind and spirit based on regular prayer and loving-kindness.
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